Locus – Cosmos
Ciara Moore & Stephan Vee
Curated by: Maria Marangou
Duration: September 9 - 28, 2003
Artillery Building - Fortezza, Rethymnon
In the framework of the European
Young Artist Exchange Programme Pépinières
Autumn has entered with a new exhibition in the Rethymnon Contemporary Art Centre (today's C.C.A.).
The exhibition under question was entitled “Locus - Cosmos”, was organized by the Rethymnon Contemporary Art Centre and was hosted in the Artillery building, in the Venetian castle of the city.
“Locus – Cosmos”, an exhibition by Ciara Moore and Stephan Vee. Irish Ciara Moore and Belgian Stephan Vee, guests of the Rethymnon Contemporary Art Centre, have worked during one winter in Rethymnon and each has created his/her own installation.
Their presence in Rethymnon was linked to the European Young Artist Exchange Programme Pépinières, in which Greece participated for the second time. The first was in 1999 with the hosting of Katharina Struber and her work "Cultural Tourist", which had been exhibited at the premises of the School of Fine Arts in Rethymnon. The positive result of the first experience was extended in 2003, outside Rethymnon, to Skópelos and Athens, with the participation of the Photography Centre and Fournos, respectively. In this way, Greece can claim similar hosting of Greek artists by museums, centres and institutions of other European countries participating in this programme, whose purpose is communication and a possibility to deliver work by young European artists.
The work of both artists came from their observation of the human hand.
Moore was interested during her stay in Rethymnon (February-April 2003) in the worry beads, those beads which banish worries, stress and make humans focus on their thoughts. She has filmed hands counting beads in cafes, was interesting to their slothful or nervous movement. At the same time, she has been isolated from the media politicians' hands in the difficult months of preparing for the war in Iraq and final intervention.
Vee, for his part, has worked on the occasion of fingers traveling as sculptures, without the people themselves and their desires. Fingers belong to different and completely different people. However, their identity is not recognized, their racial characteristics are annulled. Hundreds of fingers become a sculptural installation that mimics the image of nature and takes on the shape and colour of a plant.
Both artists have dealt with the issue of cultural boundaries, the transmission of values, the mobility of ideas and experiences.
